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Tuesday, January 1, 2019

Quilt Repair, Lights, and an Infinity Scarf

Happy New Year! Hopefully 2019 is a year of recovery and peace worldwide; a time for us to embrace the best of our beliefs in common humanity and kindness.

In addition to human grandchildren, I have two granddogs {GD1 and GD2.} GD1 has the charming habit of digging underwear out of the dirty laundry, draping it around his neck and prancing around the house whenever guests are present. {No photos of this; just take my word for it.}

GD2 has a very delicate constitution which somehow still allows him to eat aforementioned underwear, socks, and parts of quilts. The first two are funny, until you have to take him to the vet. The latter is always reprehensible. We hope he is growing out of this stage but truthfully, it's only slowing down thus far.

Last time I visited, several chewed quilts came to my attention. Most of them I tossed and replaced {with their permission} but one had too many memories - a high school t-shirt quilt now hosting three holes. One on the border, a small one in the interior and a very large one {almost one entire shirt.} Home it came for repairs.

Repaired t-shirt quilt

First I washed the quilt. Then, after measuring the holes, I covered them with the same Hobbs 80/20 cotton/poly batting, zigzagged around the perimeter of the hole, and trimmed the batting back to that stitch line.

Next I patched the backs. I pulled a red and a blue fabric to patch the smaller two holes back and front. The rectangles were cut and turned before being hand stitched in place. No, I didn't try to "match" the mend on each side. It seemed better to minimize some of the seam bulk by letting them do their own thing.

After much deliberation I used a busy outer space themed fabric to repair the front. I considered making a block {plane, car, flying geese, cross} to fill the area but decided the diner dome {sort of } matched the snowy mountain on the original t-shirt. And the color definitely fits the quilt well.

The largest hole uses some leftover improv blocks on the back. Sadly part of his name was chewed away. The improv pieces seemed to fit that center though; even the colors blend well. Who'd have thought?

Mended t-shirt quilt back

With both sides mended, I free-motion quilted the repairs, then bound the section on the edge.

It's back with the original recipient. Hopefully, GD2 won't need a midnight snack again.

Slightly different maker but they certainly light up my quilts. Only 20 watts but 1400-1600 lumens each. What a difference. Thanks for the tip, Lynne.

Scarf

Going into cleanup mode, I almost tossed the silk remnant I purchased three years ago. Then I found some silk thread in the drawer. I gave myself an evening to finally make the infinity scarf or toss them. The deadline was met.

Silk infinity scarf

Most of my scarves are bright so these soft colors were an attempt to try something different. I'm not sure if it needs edge stitching. It's hard to get a sharp edge on this material. And I've no idea how it will wash. Or if it's only dry cleanable. I'll have to call the shop and ask.

those dogs! Milo loves to destroy paper and fabric, but dancing around with dirty underwear! Oy ! You did a really grand job restoring the quilt... it looks even better with little improv bits added in! The scarf is gorgeous but I suspect the soft silk won't do well edgestitching. It'll make those little pleats under a presser foot... but you know how it behaves under the foot since you sewed the ends together. It's really pretty, and a great way to bring color to your face. I forget to put on scarves but like them.

You are so kind and patient! I think I would have Chewed out those who allowed such doggy behavior. But you did a fine repair job and I'm sure it will be appreciated! The scarf is really pretty too! I've got a few remnants floating around, I might try that! Happy New Year!

Nice repair job. I was trying to take a photo of the quilt I just finished and had the same thought that I needed some sort of light -then I read your post - voila! Off the the hardware store. Thank you and Happy New Year.

Your scarf looks good and your repairs are great. Dogs can be rascals. One of our dogs when it was a puppy liked to chew up shoes. That got expensive.LED lights are amazing and they don't get hot. Thanks for reminding me.

I hate fixing things especially when they aren't mine. You are so nice...

I have grow lights on a timer that pop on in my sewing room since I share the room with plants. Otherwise I'm pretty much in a dungeon. I should check out those lights. I use a flashlight a lot when looking through boxes!

I don't wear scarves but yours looks nice. I made some infinity batting this morning when I was piecing some together and accidentally got my wires crossed!

I don't like mending either but this was actually fun. Sharing this lights with plants would be good. I have flashlights and should remember them when I'm searching my boxes.Infinity batting! How funny.

You did a great job repairing that quilt! It's as good as new. I had to repair my son's t-shirt quilt after his dog got a hold of it and ripped the end nearly clean off. I ended up taking out all the quilting. Thanks goodness I didn't do as much quilting back then as I do now. I still had the same fabric in my stash that I had used for the sashing so that was an easy fix. The backing had gotten so thin you could stick your finger thru it so I replaced it with - get ready - the same fabric that I still had in my stash! He loves pasta and I must have bought 13 yards of it since there was almost enough to replace the back. I reused most of the binding (it was the same fabric as the sashing), quilted it again with new batting, and it was as good as new. He was happy to get it back.

That's a lot of work, Patty. I'm not sure I could completely un-quilt a quilt. Yikes. How funny that you still had enough of the same fabrics. That would never happen to me.I'm glad someone else understands why certain quilts must be repaired and does this, too.

Oh that would break my heart if the dog chewed quilts I made for kiddos. I guess I will learn how I react as it happens, if it happens. You did an amazing repair on that quilt. I have saved many t-shirts. Let's see when they turn into a quilt.The Lights - I just need a couple of them when I take pictures. there is plenty light in my house but when you photograph a quilt, can't do without those LED lights.

As a dog momma, I found your story of the GDs quite comical. One of my furbabies has a habit of leaving his mark. I tell you, we yell every time he lifts that leg and still, after 15 years, we are yelling. Sometimes he looks at me while he squirts. Impertinent little love. You did a great job of making repairs. That's something I always dread--it is difficult to make those kinds of decisions. Thank goodness all I have to do is toss the items in the machine.

They are all just cute enough to survive. One smidge less adorable and they'd be toast. You know it when we still call them "love." I dreaded these repairs, too, but they were much easier than expected. It only took a couple of hours over two days. Who'd have thought?

He is pretty cute and he knows it. He loves the attention being chased for the underwear. It wasn't that hard to mend, especially since I wasn't trying to match a pattern. All I did was "blend." So much better than tossing these memories.